Achilles Tendon Tears, Unlucky but lucky with the Achilles Surgery

In 1983 I tore my right Achilles Tendon playing basketball and had surgery to repair it.

Then in 1986 I tore my left one playing softball and had surgery.

I must be the luckiest person that ever did this because I experienced very little pain before or after surgery.

Each recoup took about three months. The worst part for me was being on crutches for the first two months each time and being virtually helpless. After healing I experienced only some discomfort after very physically active days.

I just tore the right one again last night, so here we go again.

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Joshua Answers:

Hey Larry.

Well, that's good you didn't have much pain. And sounds like really good recoveries.

And it doesn't sound like you have much of a resulting, ongoing Tendonitis problem from it. Excellent.

Did you tear all the way through, or just a big partial tear?

I'm curious why are you ripping so much.

Have you had a lot of other injuries?

Other pain issues?

What have doctors said?

I'm curious, I'm curious.

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Comments for Achilles Tendon Tears, Unlucky but lucky with the Achilles Surgery

I'm a 41 male who is very active. I lift weights 5 times a week and play basketball 2 nights a week.

One night while playing basketball i completely tore my Achillies Tendon. After the MRI, surgery was scheduled and completed 7 days after my injury. Surgery went very well.

The rupture was over 1.25cm and the my doctor used 8 strand instead of the normal 4 to tie the tendons back together. im two weeks out of surgery and i just got my stitches out yesterday.

I feel the key to the great quality surgery and painfree recovery is due to pre-surgery actions.

First of all i iced my ankle 5 times a day for 30 min to reduce swelling in my ankle. The second key was having my surgery fast after the injury before any scar tissue could form. After surgery i have not taken any pain meds but 4 ibuprofen 2 times a day to help with swelling.

I also move my toes all the time to help with blood flow and swelling. Not my ankle, just my toes. In two weeks i will start rehab.

Jul 23, 2012Rating

no help for my torn achillesby: Douglas

quick story.

i blew my achilles tendon playing basketball. went to the hospital which i recieved no help. then i went to the city hospital where they saw me. the doctors looked at my leg and determined they would not do the surgry because i had no insurance and my tendon was not completly torn.

i almost died when they said this to me. basically they told me go away u have a little piece left. now my leg is skinny. looks awful. i hate how people stare at my leg.

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Joshua Comments:

Hi Douglas.

That's not the best of news. It makes me wonder how in danger you are of a complete rupture, depending how how big the original tear was.

It was from the ace wrap around the half cast put on post surgery TOO tight. I suffered for 5 days before I finally just unwrapped it and elevated it.

Instant relief but have had a few shooting pain episodes in my big toe, surely from the area being ischemic from the tight wraps and swelling.

I imagine the same thing could happen from a solid cast with swelling after applied.

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Joshua Comments:

Thanks for replying anonymous!

That shooting pain can be from several things.

Could be from part of the ischemia (lack of blood in/to a muscle) dynamic, could be from magnesium deficiency and/or possibly a B12 (and/or B6) deficiency, could be from the nervous system being freaked out because it got cut into.

Realistically, it's some amount of each of those, all working together.

May 24, 2010Rating

shooting pain down leg after achilles rupture surgeryby: Anonymous

Does anyone experience regular shooting electrical type pain shooting down their leg after surgery from an achilles rupture?